This invention relates to electronics, in general, and to electronic components and methods of manufacture, in particular.
Radio Frequency (RF) switches are used in a variety of wireless applications, including cellular telephones. An RF switch can be made of a gallium arsenide (GaAs) switch or a Micro-ElectroMechanical System (MEMS) switch. In general, at any given operating frequency, the MEMS switch has lower insertion loss and also higher RF isolation than the GaAs switch. Both of these characteristics enable the MEMS switch to have better RF performance than the GaAs switch.
A packaging process for the MEMS switch includes manufacturing MEMS devices on a silicon wafer, dicing the silicon wafer into dice, picking a package and placing it on a packaging surface, dispensing a die attach material onto the package, picking a die from the diced silicon wafer and placing it onto the die attach material on the package, wire bonding the die to the package, releasing the switch, and using solder to seal a lid onto the package. This packaging process has many problems including low manufacturing throughput, die damage from the picking and placing of the die, and die misalignment in the package. The resulting MEMS switch also has many problems including high parasitic inductance in the wire bonds.
Accordingly, a need exists for an electronic component that has superior RF performance characteristics including low insertion loss, high RF isolation, and low parasitic inductances. The method of manufacturing the electronic component should have high manufacturing throughput, minimal die damage due to die handling, and accurate die alignment.